Kevin Alejandro joined the cast of HBO’s “True Blood” at the start of Season 3, and as his role as “brujo” Jesus Velasquz on the sexy vampire hit expands, so does the pressure to get fit to compete with the boys of Bon Temps, according to an interview with AccessHollywood.com.

“I’m sharing the screen with somebody like Ryan Kwanten (Jason Stackhouse),” says Alejandro, 34, about feeling the pressure to get ripped for those shirtless and racy nude scenes that have come to be routine on the hit show. “We all look within ourselves for inspiration [to lose weight, get fit] but he’s obviously the poster boy of a physique.”

On “True Blood,” Alejandro’s Velasquez is a long-term care nurse, who happens to be a witch. He’s also relationship with Merlotte’s resident short order cook-vampire blood dealer LaFayette Reynolds (Nelsen Ellis), and Alejandro tells AccessHollywood.com the new couple’s bond will grow stronger in the coming season, which premieres this summer.

“My relationship [will grow] with not only him but other characters in show as well,” Kevin says. “They are really moving us around and balancing it out in all these crazy, strange ways and it works, man. It works really well this year.”

“Pariah,” a coming-of-age film about a 17-year-old black lesbian in Brooklyn, N.Y., was purchased by Focus Features after its screening at the Sundance Film Festival, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The film is about the girl finding herself and learning about her sexuality.

Focus Features, which paid less than $1 million for the film, has also backed “Brokeback Mountain,” “Milk” and “The Kids Are All Right,” which is nominated for four Academy Awards.

Braga, the producer of more than a dozen feature films and 700 episodes in the franchise, regrets not featuring any openly gay characters, he says in an interview with AfterElton.com.

“It was a shame,” Braga says. “I’m talking about the ‘Next Generation,’ ‘Deep Space Nine’ and there was a constant back and forth about well how do we portray the spectrum of sexuality. There were people who felt very strongly that we should be showing casually, you know, just two guys together in the background in ‘Ten Forward.’

(He should regret it. It’s hard to imagine in more than a dozen feature films and 700 episodes, not one or three openly LGBT characters could have been portrayed. Sounds more like a conscious effort to exclude them.)

“At the time, the decision was made not to do that, and I think those same people would make a different decision now because I think, you know, that was 1989, well yeah about ’89, ’90, ’91,” Braga says. “I have no doubt that those same creative players wouldn’t feel so hesitant to have, you know, have been squeamish about a decision like that.”

(So you’re blaming it on the time period? Here’s a news flash, “Dynasty” had been featuring a gay character since 1981, and “Soap” featured gay and lesbian characters in 1980. And don’t forget “All in the Family,” and the list goes on and on. Blaming the lack of gay characters in the “Star Trek” franchise on that space in time is enabling. If someone wants to follow the herd, knock yourself out. If you want to be a leader, you don’t make excuses.)